I reside in a city without a functional China Town. This is crushing to me, as I adore Dim Sum on Sundays. Incidentally, in the fall, my farmer’s market has tons of radish. Times are hard, why not make my own turnip cakes?
But, first I needed inspiration and advice!
I began with video by TaiwanCooking. Sans shredder, an all hand cut recipe was useful. Then WoksofLife gave me the confidence to adjust my technique; adding less liquid and mixing the cooked radish into dry rice flour. Finally the DimSumClassic recipe had paired down filling which works. I can’t say which of the three recipes is most authentic because I don’t have a Taiwanese grandmother, just a Dim Sum addiction.
My ‘poor man’s’ version below.
- Sauté with teaspoon toasted sesame oil, 2 shallots and 4 cloves of garlic with ground pork and diced pork belly, white pepper and salt for 3 minutes.
- Add 1/2 cup chopped dried shrimp, diced shitake, soy sauce and chopped thai chili pepper and sauté till pork is cooked through.
- Deglaze or simply add 1/8 cup white wine and pinch of sugar and cook till everything is caramelized and not soupy.
- In another pot simmer julienned daikon radish with about 1-2 cups of water for about 10-15 min.
- Once the radish is pliable but not mushy remove pot from the fire and remove as much water as possible conserving 2 cups of radish water.
- In a large bowl mix 1 and half cups of flour and a teaspoon of cornstarch with a pinch of salt and white pepper.
- I add the turnip to the cornstarch first. Then add shitake water and turnip water till the consistency is a sticky paste
- The pork is mixture is folded in and place in bowl
- Steam for 25-30 minutes, remove from steamer, let cool and get cold in the fridge.
- Next day slice up the turnip cakes and fry them with about 1 tablespoon of oil for a minute or two each side on medium heat.
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